1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the separation of particulate matter from fluids, such as oil, natural gas and the like, and particularly to an inertial particle separator with temperature control via heat exchange.
2. Description of the Related Art
Particulate matter suspended in a fluid, such as oil, natural gas or the like, is affected by a variety of forces. The net sum of these forces dictates how the particulate matter behaves in the fluid. For example, particles may settle due to the force of gravity or inertial forces, or remain suspended due to the effects of resistance and diffusion. The particulate matter may collect or deposit on surfaces due to thermophoresis or static charge. For sub-micrometer sized particulate matter, non-gravitational forces are more significant than the force of gravity. These physical phenomena can be used to manipulate the presence of particulate matter to obtain certain desirable effects.
Filtration media are designed and constructed so that particulate matter is collected or trapped by the medium. A specific filtration media's ability to collect the desired particulate matter is a function of several physical characteristics that are designed into the filtration medium. One example of a physical characteristic is pore size of the media.
Inertial separators are frequently used for gas or liquid cleaning. In these devices, the fluid having the particulate matter is made to bend sharply. The higher density particles, which have difficulty making the sharp bend, are thrown to the outside of the bend, and are thusly concentrated in a portion of the fluid flow. The flow is then split into a clean and a dirty portion. Various cyclones, centrifuges, inertial separators, virtual impactors and the like are used for this purpose, often to reject undesired particles such as dirt from a fluid flow, but also to concentrate and collect desired particulates. In general, these devices work well to remove particulate, but they add undesirable restriction to the flow. Further, and importantly, they require a great deal of energy in order to force the fluid mixtures through the various bends of the system. It would be desirable to be able to control the pressure of the fluid flow without such large energy expenditures.
Thus, an inertial particle separator with heat exchange addressing the aforementioned problems is desired.